Clothes treatment apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a clothes treatment apparatus, which manages clothes. The clothes treatment apparatus includes: a chamber including a clothes management compartment to manage clothes; and a steam generator configured to change water into steam and supply the steam to the clothes management compartment. The steam generator includes: a steam generation tank partitioned into a first space to store water and a second space to heat water by a partition wall including a channel through which water moves from the first space to the second space; and a heater accommodated in the second space and configured to heat the water. The second space has a smaller dimension than the first space.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED THE APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0102172 filed on Aug. 14, 2020in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety

BACKGROUND Field

The disclosure relates to a clothes manager or a clothes treatmentapparatus.

Description of the Related Art

For daily wrinkles or cost reduction, there has recently been widespreada clothes treatment apparatus, which is furnished at home andautomatically smooths light wrinkles or removes dust or the like insteadof entrusting clothes management to a laundry to smooth the wrinkles.

A conventional clothes treatment apparatus supplies steam to a chamberwhile clothes are accommodated in a chamber, thereby smoothing outwrinkled clothes by the steam without directly heating the clothes.Further, the clothes treatment apparatus removes fine dust from clothesby steam. Furthermore, the clothes treatment apparatus supplies hot airhaving a predetermined temperature or higher to the chamber, therebykeeping clothes dried.

The clothes treatment apparatus includes a steam generator thatgenerates steam by heating water with a heater in a water tank. In thiscase, the heater heats all the water filled in the water tank, andtherefore it takes considerable time to change water into steam.Further, the water filled in the water tank is not all changed into thesteam, and some water remains so as not to expose the heater. However,more remaining water results in more energy being wasted.

Further, the steam generator makes a loud noise while rapidly heatingwater, which may be unpleasant to a user and may make the useruncomfortable.

SUMMARY

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a clothestreatment apparatus. The clothes treatment apparatus includes: a chambercomprising a clothes management compartment to manage clothes; and asteam generator configured to change water into steam and supply thesteam to the clothes management compartment. The steam generatorincludes: a steam generation tank partitioned into a first space tostore water and a second space to heat water by a partition wallincluding a channel through which water moves from the first space tothe second space; and a heater accommodated in the second space andconfigured to heat the water. The second space has a smaller dimensionthan the first space.

The dimension of the second space may be smaller than or equal to halfthe dimension of the first space.

The channel may be provided in a lower portion of the partition wall.

The heater may be installed at a minimum distance from an inner wall ofthe second space, where the inner wall is not thermally deformed duringoperation.

The heater may be spaced apart from the inner wall of the second spaceby 10˜20 mm.

An amount of water changeable into steam in the second space withoutsupply of water from the first space may be less than a required amountof water set to be used during clothes management

The clothes treatment apparatus may further include a water supplyingbox, the first space may include a water supplying inlet into whichwater is introduced from the water supplying box, and the second spacemay include a steam outlet from which generated steam is discharged tothe clothes management compartment.

The steam generation tank may include a cover to cover the first space,and the cover and the partition wall may be formed as a single body.

The cover may be provided at a position lower than a top end of thepartition wall.

The steam generator further may include a convection generator togenerate convection in water of the second space.

The convection generator may include a fan and a motor to rotate thefan.

The convection generator may be configured to operate based on anoperation time of the heater.

The convection generator may be configured to operate based on atemperature of water stored in the second space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readilyappreciated from the following description of embodiments, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a clothes treatment apparatus according to a firstembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates the clothes treatment apparatus of FIG. 1 with anopened door;

FIG. 3 illustrates an internal structure of the clothes treatmentapparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates a steam generator;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-section taken along line A-A of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-section taken along line B-B of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates a partition wall of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a heater;

FIG. 9 illustrates a convection generator;

FIG. 10 is a graph showing noise based on presence and absence of theconvection generator when water in a second space is heated;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a clothes treatment apparatus;

FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-section of a steam generator according to asecond embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 13 illustrates a partition wall of FIG. 12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Below, embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail withreference to accompanying drawings, to be easily carried out by a personhaving an ordinary skill in the art. The disclosure may be embodied invarious different forms, and not limited to the embodiment set forthherein. For clarity of description, like numerals refer to like elementsthroughout.

In the disclosure, terms “have,” “may have,” “include,” “may include,”etc. indicate the presence of corresponding features (e.g. a numeralvalue, a function, an operation, or an element such as a part, etc.),and do not exclude the presence of additional features.

In the disclosure, terms “A or B”, “at least one of A or/and B”, “one ormore of A or/and B” or the like may include all possible combinations ofelements enumerated together. For example, “A or B”, “at least one of Aand B”, or “at least one of A or B” may refer to all of the cases of (1)including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3) includingall of at least one A and at least one B.

In the disclosure, terms “first”, “second”, etc. are used only todistinguish one element from another, and singular forms are intended toinclude plural forms unless otherwise mentioned contextually.

In addition, in the disclosure, terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”,“inside”, “outside”, “inner”, “outer”, “front”, “rear”, etc. are definedwith respect to the accompanying drawings, and do not restrict the shapeor location of the elements.

Further, in the disclosure, the expression of “configured to (or setto)” may for example be replaced with “suitable for,” “having thecapacity to,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of”according to circumstances. Also, the expression of “configured to (orset to)” may not necessarily refer to only “specifically designed to” interms of hardware. Instead, the “device configured to” may refer to“capable of” along with other devices or parts in a certaincircumstance.

An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a clothes treatment apparatus,in which water is quickly changed into steam and energy is saved in aprocess of managing clothes.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide a clothes treatmentapparatus in which noise is reduced.

A clothes treatment apparatus 1 according to various embodiments of thedisclosure may be applied to a clothes-wrinkle smoother, an ironingapparatus, a washing machine, etc.

FIG. 1 illustrates a clothes treatment apparatus 1 according to a firstembodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 illustrates the clothes treatmentapparatus 1 of FIG. 1 with an opened door 20. FIG. 3 illustrates aninternal structure of the clothes treatment apparatus 1 of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the clothes treatment apparatus 1 may includea main body 10 forming an outer appearance, and a door 20 rotatablycoupled to the main body 10. The main body 10 may include a clothesmanagement compartment 11 in which clothes are accommodated and managed,and a machinery compartment 13 in which machines for generating heat orsteam to manage clothes are installed.

The main body 10 is internally formed with the clothes managementcompartment 11, and is shaped like a hexahedron opened at one side. Thedoor 20 is rotatably coupled to the opened side of the main body 10 andopens and closes the clothes management compartment 11. Although it isnot illustrated, the door 20 may be installed by a hinge, a link or thelike connection member.

The clothes management compartment 11 forms a space in which clothes areaccommodated. The clothes management compartment 11 may include aclothes-hanging member 12 at an upper middle thereof, on which clothesare hung.

The clothes management compartment 11 may include a first air-currentoutlet 11 a, a first air-current inlet 11 b, a second air-current outlet11 c, a second air-current inlet 11 d, and a steam inlet 11 e. The firstair-current outlet 11 a and the first air-current inlet 11 b may beformed on the bottom of the clothes management compartment 11. The firstair-current outlet 11 a may be disposed in a front bottom of the clothesmanagement compartment 11. The first air-current inlet 11 b may bedisposed in a back bottom of the clothes management compartment 11. Thefirst air-current outlet 11 a and the first air-current inlet 11 b maybe adjacent to each other.

The second air-current outlet 11 c may be formed on an upper back of theclothes management compartment 11. The second air-current inlet 11 d maybe formed at an approximate center on the top of the clothes managementcompartment 11. The second air-current outlet 11 c and the secondair-current inlet 11 d may be adjacent to each other.

The steam inlet 11 e be disposed in a lower back of the clothesmanagement compartment 11. The steam inlet 11 e may be disposed abovethe first air-current inlet 11 b.

As shown in FIG. 2, a water draining box 15 a and a water supplying box15 b separable from the main body 10 may be provided in a lower portionof the main body 10. The water draining box 15 a and the water supplyingbox 15 b may be disposed under the clothes management compartment 11.The water draining box 15 a is provided to easily treat condensatewater. The water supplying box 15 b stores water needed for generatingsteam in a steam generator 40 to be described later. Water in the watersupplying box 15 b is supplied to the steam generator 40 and used ingenerating steam. The water supplying box 15 b may be provided separablyfrom the main body 10 so as to easily replenish water.

The water draining box 15 a and the water supplying box 15 b may beprovided in front of the machinery compartment 13. The machinerycompartment 13 is provided in a lower side of the main body 10.

The machinery compartment 13 may be internally provided with a heatexchanger 30 and the steam generator 40.

The heat exchanger 30 is provided to supply hot air into the clothesmanagement compartment 11. The heat exchanger 30 may include a first airblower 32; and an evaporator 33, a compressor 35 and a condenser 34 inwhich a refrigerant circulates. The heat exchanger 30 may dehumidify andheat air inside the clothes management compartment 11.

The heat exchanger 30 absorbs latent heat from surrounding air as therefrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator 33, and at the same timecondenses and removes water in air. Further, the heat exchanger 30radiates the latent heat toward surrounding air when the refrigerant iscondensed in the condenser 34 via the compressor 35, thereby heatingsurrounding air. Air introduced into the machinery compartment 13 by thefirst air blower 32 is dehumidified and heated while passing through theevaporator 33 and the condenser 34 in sequence.

The heat exchanger 30 installed in the machinery compartment 13 mayinclude a duct 31 by which the evaporator 33, the condenser 34, and thefirst air blower 32 are connected. The duct 31 may be connected to theclothes management compartment 11 and form a first circulation channel39 circulating between the clothes management compartment 11 and theduct 31.

The duct 31 may be connected between the first air-current outlet 11 aand the first air-current inlet 11 b of the clothes managementcompartment 11. The duct 31 may include a first end connected to thefirst air-current outlet 11 a of the clothes management compartment 11,and a second end connected to the first air-current inlet 11 b of theclothes management compartment 11.

Air in the clothes management compartment 11 is discharged into the duct31 through the first air-current outlet 11 a, and the discharged air isdehumidified and then introduced again into the clothes managementcompartment 11 through the first air-current inlet 11 b.

The duct 31 allows air introduced through the first air-current outlet11 a to be dehumidified and then flow into the first air-current inlet11 b. The first air blower 32 is placed inside the duct 31 so that airin the clothes management compartment 11 can be sucked into the duct 31.

The machinery compartment 13 may further include the steam generator 40that receives water from the water supplying box 15 b and generatessteam.

The steam generator 40 may be placed in the machinery compartment 13.

The steam generator 40 may be connected to and receive water from thewater supplying box 15 b (see FIG. 2).

The steam generator 40 may include a steam supplying pipe 41 to guidethe generated steam to a steam sprayer 42. The steam sprayer 42 may bedisposed in a lower back of the clothes management compartment 11.

FIG. 4 illustrates the steam generator 40, FIG. 5 illustrates across-section taken along line A-A of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 illustrates across-section taken along line B-B of FIG. 4, FIG. 7 illustrates apartition wall of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a heater44.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, the steam generator 40 may include a steamgeneration tank 43 in which steam is generated, and a heater 44 by whichwater is heated.

The steam generation tank 43 is divided into a first space 432 and asecond space 433 by a partition wall 431.

The first space 432 refers to a space filled with water to be suppliedto the second space. The first space 432 is provided with a watersupplying inlet 4321 into which water is introduced from the watersupplying box 15 b.

The second space 433 refers to a space in which the heater 44 isinstalled and the filled water is changed into steam. The second space433 is formed with a steam outlet 4332 through which the changed steamis discharged to the clothes management compartment 11.

The dimension of the second space 433 may be smaller than that of thefirst space 432, for example, may be smaller than or equal to half thedimension of the first space 432.

For example, when the total amount of water filled in the steamgeneration tank 43 is 900 cc, the first space 432 may be designed for600 cc and the second space 433 may be designed for 300 cc, in which thedimension of the second space 433 is half the dimension of the firstspace 432. When 350 cc of water is used in a single clothes-managementcourse, 300 cc of water supplied from the second space 433 and 50 cc ofwater supplied from the first space 432 may be changed into steam.During the single clothes-management course, water levels in the firstspace 432 and the second space 433 may be gradually lowered as much asconsumed. Then, 550 cc of water is finally left over from the singleclothes-management course, in which about 367 cc of water remains in thefirst space 432 and about 183 cc of water is introduced from the firstspace 432 and remains in the second space 433. Therefore, the dimensionof the second space 433 is designed not to expose the heater 44 assunken under 183 cc of water finally left over in the second space 433.

The partition wall 431 is formed with a channel 4311 in a lower portionthereof, through which water flows from the first space 432 to thesecond space 433. The channel 4311 may include a plurality of holes. Ofcourse, the channel 4311 may include a single hole, or may include holesdifferent in size.

As water filled in the second space 433 is changed by the heater 44 intosteam and sprayed into the clothes-management compartment 11, water isdecreased in the second space 433. However, the second space 433 isreplenished with water introduced from the first space 432 through thechannel 4311.

Referring to FIG. 8, the heater 44 may for example be embodied by a lineheater having a ‘W’ shape. The heater 44 may be embodied by a glass orquartz rod internally including a hot wire 441. As shown in FIG. 6, theheater 44 may be vertically installed on the bottom of the second space433. Of course, the heater 44 may be horizontally installed on thebottom of the second space 433 when the steam generation tank 43 isdesigned to be low and wide taking the space of the machinerycompartment 13 into account.

The heater 44 may be installed in a lower portion of the second space433 so as to be sunken under water filled in the second space 433.

The heater 44 may be disposed as close to an inner wall 4331 of thesecond space 433 as possible as long as it does not thermally deform theinner wall 4331 of the second space 433.

The minimum distance Lmin between the heater 44 and the inner wall 4331of the second space 433 may be varied depending on materials for thewall of the second space 433. The minimum distance (Lmin) may bedesigned by 10 mm when the wall of the second space 433 is for examplemade of metal or the like material resistant to heat, and may bedesigned by 20 mm when the wall is made of plastic or the like materialnot resistant to heat. Therefore, the heater 44 may be spaced apart fromthe inner wall 4331 of the second space 433 by 10˜20 mm.

Like this, the second space 433 is replenished with water from the firstspace 432 as the relatively small amount of water holdable in the secondspace 433 is quickly changed into steam. In other words, it is possibleto generate as much steam as needed for the clothes-management coursebecause the second space 433 is replenished with water from the firstspace 432, even though the amount of water holdable in the second space433 is less than that required in the single clothes-management course.

Further, a small amount of water is heated in the second space 433, andtherefore the amount of leftover hot water is minimized, therebyreducing a waste of energy.

FIG. 9 illustrates a convection generator 45, and FIG. 10 is a graphshowing noise based on presence and absence of the convection generator45 when water in a second space is heated.

Referring to FIG. 9, the steam generator 1 may include the steamgeneration tank 43 in which steam is generated, the heater 44 by whichwater is heated, and the convection generator 45.

The steam generation tank 43 may include the partition wall 431 and bethus divided into the first space 432 for storing water and the secondspace 433 for heating water.

The convection generator 45 is provided in the second space 433 andforcibly generates convection in water of the second space 433. Theconvection generator 45 may be installed in any of the bottom, side ortop of the second space 433 as long as it does not interfere with theheater 44.

The convection generator 45 may include a fan 451, and a motor 452 forrotating the fan 451.

The convection generator 45 may operate and forcibly agitate waterbefore noise is made as water in the second space 433 is boiled by theheater 44.

Referring to FIG. 10, it is understood that noise is generally reducedwhen the convection generator 45 according to the disclosure is appliedto the second space 433 while water is heated up to 100° C. as comparedwith that of the related art to which the convection generator 45 is notapplied.

Because the temperature of the heater 44 instantly reaches 100° C.,water around the heater 44 vaporizes first of all while creating bubblesand spreads out. In this case, the fan 451 forcibly stirs water andprevents water around the heater 44 from suddenly vaporizing. In result,bubbles suddenly created around the heater 44 are decreased, therebyreducing noise made due to rapid heating of water.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the clothes treatment apparatus 1.

Referring to FIG. 11, the clothes treatment apparatus 1 may include thesteam generator 40, the convection generator 45, a sensor 50 and aprocessor 60. The structures of the steam generator 40 and theconvection generator 45 have been described above, and thus repetitivedescriptions thereof will be avoided.

The sensor 50 may include a water level sensor 51, a temperature sensor52, and a timer 53.

The water level sensor 51 may include a first water-level sensor (notshown) provided in the water supplying box 15 b and a second water-levelsensor (not shown) provided in the first space 432. The firstwater-level sensor may detect the level of water filled in the watersupplying box 15 b. The second water-level sensor may detect the levelof water filled in the first space 432.

The temperature sensor 52 may be provided in the second space 433. Thetemperature sensor 52 may detect the temperature of water heated by theheater 44 in the second space 433.

The timer 53 may count an operation time of the heater 44 during theclothes-management course.

The processor 60 may generally control various parts of the clothestreatment apparatus 1, for example, the heat exchanger 30, the steamgenerator 40, the convection generator 45, etc.

The processor 60 may warn a user of water shortage when the level ofwater detected by the first water-level sensor provided in the watersupplying box 15 b is lower than or equal to a first threshold. Theprocessor 60 may operate a pump (not shown) to supply water from thewater supplying box 15 b to the first space 432 when the level of waterdetected by the second water-level sensor provided in the second space432 is lower than or equal to a second threshold.

The processor 60 may operate the convection generator 45 based on theoperation time of the heater 44 or the temperature of water in thesecond space 433.

The processor 60 may turn on or off the motor 452 of the convectiongenerator 45 with reference to the timer 53 that counts the operationtime of the heater 44. Referring to FIG. 10, the processor 60 may turnon the motor 452 of the convection generator 45 during an operation timefrom ‘50’ seconds to ‘250’ seconds of the heater 44.

Alternatively, the processor 60 may turn on or off the motor 452 of theconvection generator 45 with reference to the detected temperature ofthe temperature sensor 52 provided in the second space 433. Referring toFIG. 10, the processor 60 may turn on the motor 452 of the convectiongenerator 45 within a temperature range from 17° C. to 100° C. of waterin the second space 433

The processor 60 may include at least one general-purpose processor, forexample, a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP)or a microprocessor, which loads at least a part of a control programincluding instructions from a nonvolatile memory installed with thecontrol program to a volatile memory, and executes the loaded controlprogram.

The processor 60 may include a single-core processor, a dual-coreprocessor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and the likemultiple-core processor. The first processor 60 may include a pluralityof processors. The first processor 60 may for example include a mainprocessor and a sub processor that operates in a sleep mode (e.g. whenonly standby power is supplied). Further, the processor, a read onlymemory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM) are connected to oneanother via an internal bus.

The processor 60 may be achieved as included in a main system on chip(SoC) mounted to a built-in PCB of the clothes treatment apparatus 1.Alternatively, the main SoC may further include an image processor.

FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-section of the steam generator 40 accordingto a second embodiment of the disclosure, and FIG. 13 illustrates thepartition wall 431 of FIG. 12.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the steam generator 40 may include thesteam generation tank 43 in which steam is generated, and the heater by44 which water is heated.

The steam generation tank 43 may include the partition wall 431 so as tobe dived into the first space 432 and the second space 433, and a cover434 in order to cover the second space 433.

The cover 434 and the partition wall 431 may be formed as a single body.The cover 434 may be provided at a position lower than the top end ofthe partition wall 431. The cover 434 may be provided at a positionlower than the level of water filled in the second space 433.

As described above, the clothes treatment apparatus according to thedisclosure not only saves energy but also quickly changes water intosteam because a heating space for heating water is minimized and wateris replenished by an adjacent water reservoir.

Although a few embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated anddescribed, the disclosure is not limited to these embodiments, andvarious modifications can be made by a person having an ordinaryknowledge in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosureand should be construed within the technical concept or prospect of thedisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clothes treatment apparatus comprising: a chamber comprising a clothes management compartment to manage clothes; and a steam generator comprising: a steam generation tank comprising a partition that has a channel and that partitions the steam generation tank into a first space to hold water and a second space, having a smaller dimension than the first space, to hold water received from the first space through the channel, and a heater accommodated in the second space to heat the water held in the second space into steam to be supplied to the clothes management compartment.
 2. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimension of the second space is smaller than or equal to half the dimension of the first space.
 3. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel is provided in a lower portion of the partition wall.
 4. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heater is installed at a minimum distance from an inner wall of the second space so that the inner wall is not thermally deformed during operation of the heater.
 5. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 4, wherein the heater is spaced apart from the inner wall of the second space by 10˜20 mm.
 6. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein an amount of water holdable in the second space without receiving additional water from the first space through the channel is less than an amount of water required to be heated into steam in a single clothes management course.
 7. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a water supplying box, wherein the first space comprises a water supplying inlet into which water is introduceable from the water supplying box to be held in the first space, the second space comprises a steam outlet from which the steam is discharged so as to be supplied to the clothes management compartment.
 8. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steam generation tank comprises a cover to cover the first space, and the cover and the partition wall are formed as a single body.
 9. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 8, wherein the cover is provided at a position lower than a top end of the partition wall.
 10. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steam generator further comprises a convection generator to generate convection in the water held in the second space.
 11. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 10, wherein the convection generator comprises a fan and a motor to rotate the fan.
 12. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 10, wherein the convection generator is configured to operate based on an operation time of the heater.
 13. The clothes treatment apparatus of claim 10, wherein the convection generator is configured to operate based on a temperature of water held in the second space. 